Enrique
by The 1597 Faceless Writer
Summary: A young man returns to the home of his late childhood friends with his girlfriend to retrieve an object that can help him reunite with some of his old friends.


Author's Note: Here's another one shot. I hope you all enjoy it!

Enrique

The car slowly rolled up into the driveway and the engine turned off with a soft click. A young, Hispanic man in his late teens stepped out of the car. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans with a long, yellow jacket. A woman stepped out of the car too. She was around his age and was wearing a long, red jacket with black jeans. The man and the woman approached a house that had fallen into a state of decay. The windows were smashed and boarded up, parts of the roof had caved in, and the exterior of the house was fading away. It was early December so snow had already begun to fall and the trees around the house had already lost their leaves.

"Enrique, why are we here again?" the woman asked. Enrique turned to his girlfriend and sighed.

"This is the home of my childhood friends. It's been years since I was last here. I want to see if something they owned is still here. Is that okay with you, Janet?" he replied. Janet nodded and grabbed onto his arm.

"It doesn't look very safe. It could collapse at any moment."

"We'll be in and out of the house in a flash. I promise."

Janet nodded again and the couple proceeded to walk into the rotting house.

The inside of the house smelled of mold and dust and cobwebs extended off of every wall. Enrique and Janet carefully made their way upstairs. The floorboards creaked with every step they took.

"So what happened to your friends? Did they move away?" Janet asked as they reached the second floor hallway.

"No. Their names were Emmy and Max. Emmy and I were eight years old and Max was six," Enrique explained.

"Did something happen to them?"

"I was heading over to play with them that day. We had some plans to go and celebrate a friend's birthday. When I arrived at their house, nobody was home. I waited and waited but they never arrived. The next day, I learned that Emmy, Max, and their parents had died in a car crash."

"Oh my God!"

"They were caught in a bad traffic jam and some idiota in a truck t-boned them."

"I'm so sorry!"

"I was angry, confused, but mostly sad."

"What about the other friend?"

"He...he was sad too. I never saw that friend or any of the others ever again. There was something that Emmy and Max had owned that I had wanted to retrieve but, at the last moment, my parents and I moved to New York and I never got the chance to get it back."

"What is it that you wanted to get?"

"It's a...toy. A dragon scale. It's something that Emmy, Max, and I cherished greatly. We always brought it with us when we went to play with our friends."

"Do you think it's still here?"

"Maybe. Their parents never found out about it so there's a small chance that it got left behind."

Enrique and Janet entered one of the rooms. Enrique instantly remembered fond memories of playing with Emmy and Max in that very room.

"This where we used to play," he sighed. He walked over to a drawer and opened it up. His eyes widened. Inside the drawer there sat a bronze box with dragon pictures on it. Enrique picked the box up and opened it. Inside the box, there sat a silver dragon scale. It emanated a multicolored light that made Enrique smile with delight.

"Is that it?" Janet asked.

"Yeah. It is."

Janet picked up the dragon scale and smiled. She place it back in the box and Enrique closed it.

"That's what you came for?" she asked. Enrique smiled and nodded. He then walked over towards the door and beckoned Janet to follow him.

A light snowfall had started by the time Enrique and Janet had returned to their car. Enrique placed the dragon scale in the back seat and started the engine. He then took one last look at the house he used to visit so many times in his youth, rolled the car back, and drove it down the street.

Enrique and Janet made it back to their apartment by that evening. Janet began making dinner while Enrique retreated to the bedroom. Enrique opened the box and pulled out the dragon scale. It felt warm and powerful in his hand. He couldn't believe that it had remained there through all of those years. Janet entered the bedroom and sat down next to him.

"Dinner will be ready shortly," she said.

"That's good," he replied. Janet placed her hand on the scale and kissed Enrique on the cheek.

"I'm happy that you got the dragon scale back. It must mean a lot to you."

"You have no idea."

Enrique continued to stare at the scale. That's when he got an idea.

"Janet. Do you want to take a trip somewhere?" he asked.

"I would love to but not right now. We need to focus on our college exams," she replied.

"What if I told you that there was a way to go on a vacation right now and have it take no time at all?"

"What are you going on about?"

"Would you like to visit a multicolored canyon and fly with dragons?"

"That would be a pretty interesting vacation but, come on, dragons don't exist. Multicolored canyons are a possibility though."

Enrique kissed Janet on the cheek and stared deep into her eyes.

"I love you, Janet, and I think it's time for me to share a secret that I've kept to myself since Emmy and Max passed away. I didn't tell you earlier because I knew you wouldn't believe me but now I can show you," he said as he presented the dragon scale to Janet.

"Thank you. I love you too. What's the secret then?" she asked with a soothing smile. Enrique stood up.

"I need you to stand up and hold onto the dragon scale."

Janet did what she was told.

"Now what?"

"Now I want you to say _I wish, I wish with all my heart to fly with dragons in a land of heart_ with me. Do you remember those words exactly?"

"Got it. What's this all about, Enrique?"

"You'll see. Just hold onto the scale tightly and say those words with me."

Janet smiled and tightened her grip on the scale. Enrique and Janet stared happily into each other's eyes as they said, "_I wish, I wish with all my heart to fly with dragons in a land of heart_."

The End


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